The Puffer Forum

Im thinking of purchasing a big showpiece of driftwood for my 60 gallon tank. But I know that driftwood can sometimes cause ph swings in the downword direction, also a friend told me he thought they absorb salt and it can be frustrating keeping gravity up until they have been in the tank for a while. I think as well that they can be algea makers..... in the past it always seemed like algea started appearing first on the wood in my fresh 30 gallon community. What do you guys think? Worth the trouble? My gravity at the moment is 1.012......

I just feel like the decor is missing somthing... like a big bad-buttocks driftwood right in the center would help...

I think the only problem with driftwood in a salty tank is that the salt will break down the wood...

Uh, didnt think about that.... and if the salt breaks down the wood than that means more particulate in the water, which means dirtier water.... um.... doesnt sound good...

Maybe you could find fake driftwood, like something made from resin. You're right about sticking something in the middle, though. It doesn't have to be driftwood, though that would be pretty. Maybe a huge decorative airstone, or a rock castle-like structure with nice hidey-holes, or a sunken ship? Drs. Foater & Smith have some COOL sunken ships.

I'm not a fan of ships and castles. fake drift wood would be better.
Also, change the title of this thread to driftwood in brackish tank and there might be more people to help

I have driftwood in my brackish tanks and they're running at a ph of about 8 - you will get a slight effect on the PH but you're running mid-hgh brackish so the trace elements within the marine salt should keep the PH up anyway.

If you're really worried about the PH lowering then you could put some crushed coral in a bag in your filter to combat the effects.

Driftwood doesn't make algae, algae is just present in water and it settles on surfaces, the light within the tank will be most intense in the centre so if the wood is placed in the centre then it would make sense that it begins to appear there in the greatest concentration.

While the size of the would would make a minor difference, the amount of tannins (SP) would effect your PH more, new wood vs old wood...the longer it has been in a tank (any tank) for a substantial period of time,the more acid that has leached out ant thus... the less the variance over time. Wood will decompose quicker in a B/W environment, but realistically, if you are doing weekly 50's the result will be unnoticeable. The main thing is, as always, maintaining a water chemistry that does not fluctuate too greatly...for the most part, fish can adjust to small changes over time...it is the quick changes that cause problems..Ie: if you don't change your water for a month, and it is filthy, yellow with tannins(SP) and you do a big water change...that could be a problem(depending on your source waters PH). The crushed coral in the filter (or even the substrate) is a good idea to raise your buffering capability....

Keep up your water changes, and getting timers on you lights, or keeping the tank out of sun light, will also control any algae issues

IMO your tank looks awsome, could use a small piece of wood in the middle if you wanted to. What I usually do before I add wood to a tank is boil it in a pot for a few minutes and then once it has softened up I break off any loose pieces or anything that might end up falling off the wood and becoming unsightly debris. Hope this helps.

While the size of the would would make a minor difference, the amount of tannins (SP) would effect your PH more, new wood vs old wood...the longer it has been in a tank (any tank) for a substantial period of time,the more acid that has leached out ant thus... the less the variance over time. Wood will decompose quicker in a B/W environment, but realistically, if you are doing weekly 50's the result will be unnoticeable.

I wonder if I just soaked it in a big plastic tub i got for a while before putting it in..... Also its a 60 gallon tank and I do a 9 gallon water change every week.... THere's not a large bioload in the tank so ive been told that that should be sufficant. My water comes out of the tap very high in ph and hard along with a cichlid sand I use that helps maintain the ph at like 8.5 or somthing like that.

or keeping the tank out of sun light, will also control any algae issues

Got this problem beat! Check out my how to in the do it yourself section!

Maybe a huge decorative airstone, or a rock castle-like structure with nice hidey-holes, or a sunken ship? Drs. Foater & Smith have some COOL sunken ships.

Yea ive thought about a fake wood, but it doesnt compare to the look of a nice big knarly wood centerpeice.... If I find one that looks cool maybe.... I have to agree with Jase too, fake castles and such arnt to cool looking. I have thought it would be cool to have a real stone cut broken statue of a buddah or somthing??? But it would have to be made of real stone.... not plastic made...... And look like an archealogical peice.....

Drs. Foster and Smith (okay, I admit it, I'm addicted to their catalogue) had some really realistic resin wood.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=18456

Drs. Foster and Smith (okay, I admit it, I'm addicted to their catalogue) had some really realistic resin wood.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=18456

Yea thats pretty cool, not so fakey looking, and if like parly buried or somthing might look pretty cool... I wonder if you can get somthing like that at one of the fish stores around... I bet shipping would be expensive.. Good find!

LilGreenPuffer wrote:Drs. Foster and Smith (okay, I admit it, I'm addicted to their catalogue) had some really realistic resin wood.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=18456

That is cool. Could pull off the mangrove look easy.

Shipping should be $10. I don't order from them unless I need multiple items, cause their shipping rates are high, but they've got some good buys. In the fish store today, I walked by the test kit I'd ordered from DFS a week before for $21, and they had it for $47!

Yea, I had decided to just go with the rock centerpeice., instead of the fake wood..... so get this! I went to the pet store to pick up some things and the cool rocks to build a center peice type thing.... I got to talking to the store owner who I trust and is very knowlegdeable. He doesnt think the wood is going to affect my PH that much, maybe a half drop at the most.... my ph is at 8 right now... and like you guys said I could always put crushed coral in my filter bag if I want to raise it..... Also he said that it probably would take a long while for the salt to do any kind of noticable damage to the wood at my salinity... of 1.012... he said hes kept wood in brackish tanks as high as 1.018 and the only thing you have to be careful about is the wood raising your nitrates..... but he said as long as I do water changes weekly and test often it should be okay.... im thinking of keeping my gravity at 1.012 or maybe raising it to 1.014 but not much more than that for a while. And when the time comes that I edge closer to full marine, I take the thing out...... but for now I really like the way it looks! check out the new pics......


Pancake the leader of the breakfast club! THe other two monos I have are smaller and aptly named toast and waffle.... my daughter idea!

Gaby has been doing better after the gel-tek treatment but she still loses her belly after a day of eating....